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D03209711N 


R,  E  F  O  R  T 


SECEETAEY  OF  WAE. 


Confederate  ;•  America,  } 

War   Depahtment,,  ' 

Richmond,  January  S,  1863.  ) 

His  Excellency  Jefferson  I 'avis, 

ident  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America  : 

Sir  :   I  have  the  honor  to  submit  to  you  the  following  report  of  the 
action  and  condition  of  this  Department: 

:•  the  toils,  privations  and  many  battles  of  the  past  ye.tr,  it  i3 
gratifying  to  be  able  to  present  the  army  as  fully  equal,  if  not  su- 
perior, in  all  the  elements  of  strength  to  what  it  has  been  at  any 
if  the  war.  Jts  numbers,  though  still  seriously  inade- 
to  fill  fully  its  organizations,  yet  afford  a  neaier  approxil 
than  heretofore  to  that  result.  When,  in  addition,  it  is  considered 
that  a  large  proportion  of  these  .  not  of  new  recruits,  but  of 

soldiers  inured  to  the  exposures  of  service  and  made  veterans  by  the 
ordeal  of  constant  danger,  its  superior  endurance  ami  stability  must 
readily  be  acknowledged.     It  is  not  deemed  requisite  to  state  it€ 

I  ate,  nor  to  detail  the  exact  proportions  of  its  respective 
brand  .ice.     It  may  be  sufficient  to  say  generally,  in  respect 

to  the  latter,  that  it  is  believed  they  exist  in  such  respective  propor- 
tion as  approved  military  judgment  considers  most  promotive  of 
efficiency  and  co-opera  I 

army,  thus  constituted,  could  it  be  recruited  and  maintained  to 
its  full  complement,  would,  in  all  probability,  be  the  largest  in  pro- 
portion to  population  ever  maintained  in  actual  service  by  any  nation, 
ill  attain  the  maximum  which  the  production  and  resources  of 
even  the  wide  expanse  and  fertile  regions  of  the  Confederacy  would, 
without  oppressive  exactions  on  the  people,  render  judicious  to  sus- 
tain. Nor,  when  it  is  recollected  how,  with  numbers  much  short  of 
this  standard  of  completion,  it  has,  in  the  past,  generally  wrested 
victory  from  the  far  superior  forces  of  the  enemy,  and  repelled  the 
horde  of  invaders  on  which,  with  the  presumptuous. insolence  of  anti- 


cipated  succst*  euir  foe  have  relied  to  overwhelm  us,  can  it  be  doubted 
that  such  an  army  would  be  fully  adequate  to  all  future  needs  and 
exigencies,  and  sufficient  to  assure  final  peace  and  independence. 

To  secure  the  completion  of  its  numbers,  reliance  must  be  placed 
on  the  measures  of  legislation  known  popularly  as  the  Acts  of  Con- 
scription, approved,  the  one  on  the  16th  of  April,  1862,  and  the  other 
on  the  27th  of  September,  1862. 

By  the  first  of  these  acts,  all  the  white  male  citizens  of  the  Con- 
federacy capable  of  bearing  arms,  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and 
thirty-five  years,  with  a  few  guarded  exceptions,  were  constituted 
soldiers  of  the  Provisional  army,  and  devoted  first  to  filling  up  the 
ranks  of  the  old  organizations.  This  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
ordeals -to  which  the  patriotism  and  self  devotion  of  any  people  was 
ever  subjected.  It  was  demanded  by  the  imperious  necessity  of  the 
crisis.  Without  decadence  of  the  real  valor  of  our  people,  or  their 
invincible  determination  to  achieve  their  independence,  the  first  flush 
of  enthusiasm,  and  the  rush  of  volunteers  fired  by  threatened  inva- 
sion, had  comparatively  ceased.  Not  unnaturally,  under  experience 
of  the  diseases,  privations  and  hardships  of  the  soldier's  life,  and  the 
influence  of  delusive  hopes  of  a  speedy  peace  inspired  by  early  victo- 
ries, the  spirit  of  volunteering  had  died  out.  While,  however,  the 
ardor  of  the  individual  did  not  suffice  for  the  proffer  of  self-devotion, 
the  sentiments  and  convictions  of  the  mass  recognized  as  the  most 
sacred  obligation  the  stefn  duty  of  defending,  if  needs  be,  with  their 
-entire  numbers,  their  imperilled  liberty,  fortune  and  honor.  They 
were  engaged  in  a  righteous  war  for  all  men  hold  dear.  "  Foes,  as 
malignant  in  intent,  as  unscrupulous  in  means,  with  numb'ers  unex- 
ampled in  modern  -war,  aided  by  patient  training,  complete  organiza- 
tion, and  all  the  appliances  of  military  science,  were  pressing  on  for 
their  subjugation  or  extermination.  The  contrast  presented  at  the 
same  time  by  our  banded  forces  was  not  less  striking  than  discourag- 
ing. The  periods  of  enlistment  of  more  than  two-thirds  of  our 
soldiers  were  very  near  their  termination,  and  it  was  manifest  that, 
notwithstanding  the  ulterior  purpose  of  the  great  majority,  at  some 
future  time  to  re- enlist  in  the  ranks  of  the  armed  defenders  of  their 
country,  their  resolution  was  not  sufficient  to  resist  the  prospects 
cherished  for  months,  amid  the  sufferings  and  monotony  of  the  camps, 
of  returning  to  their  homes  and  there  temporarily  enjoying  their 
habitual  comforts  and  pleasures.  They  had,  too,  for  self-justification 
the  plea  that  they  had  borne  their  part  of  the  burthen  and  peril,  and 
that  it  was  inequitable  that  numbers  equally  interested  and  capable, 
but  only  less  bold  or  more  prudent,  should  enjoy  all  the  benefits 
without  sharing  in  their  trials  and  dangers.  Our  army  was  in  incipient 
disorganization,  and  on  the  eve  of  dissolution.  The  natural  conse- 
quences ensued  in  a  series  of  grave  disasters.  Reverse  succeeded 
reverse.  In  the  east,  Roanoke  Island,  the  key  to  the  inland  waters 
Of  North  Carolina,  was  captured.  We  had  to  fall  back  from  Manassas, 
abandon  bur  defences  at  Yorktown,  and  yield  Norfolk,  with  all  the 
advantages  of  its  contiguous  navy  yard  and  dock.  In  the  west, 
Forts  Henry  and  Donelson   fell,  with  the  loss,  at  the  latter,  of  the 


gallant  force  who  had  victoriously  repelled,  till  exL 
them,  to  meet  overwhclmii  -.     All  d 

Mississippi  had  to  be  yi  loned,  and  Nashville,  the  c 

and  M  city  of  Tennessee,  became  the  unresisting 

prey  of  the  victor?.     Finally,  as  tie  crowning  se  for- 

tune, N  he  commercial  emporium  of  the  South,  with  the 

forts  that  gu  i  outlet  of  tl 

after  resistance  so  feeble  as  to  arouse  not  less  of  ib  indigna- 

tion, passed  into  the  occup 
of  our  struggle,  and  with  a  people  of  id  invinci- 

it  might  well  ha\  •     F>ut,  to  their 

.  it  only  ro 
rner  struggles.     A  supren  I  self-devoti 

■ 

in  the  army 
3  of  enli  jtment  were  j  the  sacrifice 

involved  in  the  renewal  of  all  their-  and  dangers,  and  the 

renunciation   of  their  anti  enjoymen 

"better  conceived  than  portrayed.      Y  re  scarce  a  murmur  cf 

disappointment  and  disaffection,  and  i  "  as.  known, 

of  resistance  or  revolt,  of  the 

groat  body  of  the  people,  who.  with  full  realization  of  all  to  be  en- 
countered, yielded  themselves  kindred  to  the  call  of 
oeed.  The  results  worthily  r<-  b  sacrifices. 
The  army  was  speedily,  \\  and  recruited,  and  with  sterner 
sense  of  its  task,  and  renewed  I  I  to  meet  the  exultant 
foe. 

By  the  rapid    concentration  of  General  A. 

hnstpH  was  enabled,  with  some  approximation  to  equality  of 
strike  a  decisive  hi'  vin  the  brilliant  victory  cf 

Shiloh,  where  the  enemy  wore   •  i   utter  destruct 

the  hasty  arrival  of  reinfon  re  than  sue- 

fully  repel' 
In  the  east,  the  happy 
at  a  critical  time  the  "advance  of  the  g  ral  army,  destin 

the  capture  of  our  capital,  until   our  force-,   rescued  by  the  coi 
mate  strategy  of  General  J.  E.  John  re  of  envel- 

oping armies,  could   arrive   to   tl  iven  in 

partial  battles  at  Williamsburg  and  elsewhere,   dismayed   and 
the  Federal  army  in  its  advance,  until  General  Johnson  had  securely 
withdrawn  his  forces  to  his  chosen  lines  of  Meanwhil 

Jackson,  by  a  series  of  rapid  movements  and   bold   attack 
strategy  equalled  valor,  with  far  inferior  numbers,  defeated  succes 
four   Generals,  with    as  many  armies,  swept    the  Valley  of   Y. 
of  hostile  forces,  made  the  Federal  authorities  tremble  in  their  capital, 
and  frustrated  the  combinations  by  which  the  enemy  had  purposed  to 
aid  General  McClellan  and   environ   Richmond   by  large   converging 
armies.      During  these  operations,  the  grand  army  of  McClellan,  in- 
veigled by  the  skill  of  General  J.  E.  Johnson  to  settle  down   on  the 


swamps  of  the  Chickahominy  to  the  prudent  occupation  of  digging- 
trenches  and  earthworks, was,  on  the  first  favorable  opportunity,  stricken 
with  marked  success  in  the  severe  engagement  of  the  Seven  Pines. 
Unfortunately,  before  his  guidance  had  consummated  victory,  General 
Johnson  was  wounded  and  disabled.  Our  army  was  then  transferred 
to  that  consummate  commander,  General  R.  E.  Lee.  Soon  thereafter, 
summoning  to  his  aid  General  Jackson,  the  prestige  of  whose  name 
and  recent  exploits  sufficed  for  the  security  of  the  Valley,  he,  in  pur- 
suance of  a  plan,  as  admirably  conceived  as  on  his  part  boldly  execu- 
ted, assailed  McClellan  in  flank  and  rear,  and  by  a  series  of  bloody 
victories,  drove  from  their  labored  defences  his  grand  army.  Shattered 
and  dismayed,  it  cowered  for  protection  under  cover  of  its  gunboats, 
there  to  swelter  and  waste  beneath  the  oppressive  sun  and  pestilent 
malaria  of  a  shadeless  plain  on  the  banks  of  the  lower  James.  Even 
that  measure  of  good  fortune  was  due  solely  to  those  accidental  miscar- 
riages in  combinations  which  in  war  often  mar  the  wisest  arrange- 
ments. The  execution  of  General  Lee's  plan,  Avith  vigor  equal  to  its 
conception,  must  inevitably  have  eventuated  in  the  capture  of  the 
whole  demoralized  army  of  the  enemy. 

While'these  triumphs  were  being  won,  another  large  army  of  the 
enemy  was  advancing  through  Piedmont  Virginia,  towards  its  central 
lines  of  railroad  communication,  under  the  command  of  General  Pope. 
He  had  disgraced  the  character  of  an  officer  by  braggart  boasts,  and 
outraged  humanity  and  civilization,  by  stimulating  and  sanctioning 
desolating  ravages  and  vindictive  cruelties  by  his  unscrupulous  troops. 
General  Jackson,  dispatched  with  a  moderate  force  to  stay  his  pro- 
gress, administered  a  speedy  rebuke  to  his  arrogant  vaunts,  and  gave- 
an  earnest  of  coming  chastisement  by  defeating,  in  the  sharp  engage- 
ment of  Cedar  Run,  his  advanced  division  under  General  Banks. 

Soon  after,  General  Lee,  despising  the  shrunken  proportions  and 
quelled  spirit  of  the  grand  army  in  its  unenviable  asylum,  proceeded, 
with  the  larger  proportion  of  his  forces,  to  unite  with  Jackson  and 
confront  the  then  collected  and  imposing  army  of  Pope.  By  a 
succession  of  movements,  too  masterly  to  be  comprehended,  and  too 
rapidly  executed  to  be  withstood  by  Pope,  he  broke  up  his  communi- 
cations, intercepted  his  supplies,  and  by  throwing  forces  in  his  rear, 
drove  him  to  rapid  flight,  chased  him  from  the  Rapidan  to  Bull  Run, 
and  at  last  forced  him,  but  not  until  sustained  by  large  reinforcements 
from  Washington,  to  a  decisive  battle  on  the  already  memorable  field 
of  Manassas.  There  a  second  victory,  scarce  less  decisive  than  the 
first,  attested  the  continuing  superiority  of  our  troops,  and  the  un- 
changed favor  of  the  God  of  Battles.  The.  enemy  fled  to  refuge 
under  their  old  defences  at  Arlington,  and  again  spread  dread  and 
confusion  in  their  quaking  capital.  Instead  of  wasting  strength  and 
resources  by  either  assailing  the  strongholds  of  the  enemy  or  tarry- 
ing in  the  country  wasted  by  the  repeated  ravages  of  war,  General 
Lee,  with  boldness  and  dexterity,  passed  his  army  rapidly  into  Mary- 
land. There,  with  part  of  his  forces,  he  penetrated  to  the  centre  of 
the  State,  collecting  large  stores  of  much  needed  supplies,  and  by 
stirring  appeals,  rousing  the  people  of  that  oppressed  State  to  strike 


for  their  own  deliverance.  With  another  portion,  the  rapid  Jackson 
moved  to  the  capture  of  Harper's  Ferry,  with  its  hostile  force  of 
11,000  men  and  great  stores  of  munitions  and  supplies.  This  was 
crowned  with  perfect  success,  and  must  be  recognized  as  among  the 
most  brilliant  achievements  of  the  war. 

Under  the  shock  of  our  victories,  in  the  Valley  and  around  Richmond, 
and  of  the  successes  of  our  arms  in  the  west,  the  Federal  executive,  still 
tenacious  of  the  hope  to  crush  us  by  surpassing  numbei  arces, 

had   ordered  a  draft  of  six  hundi  id  more  men  to  be  at   once 

furnished  and  hurried  to  the  support  of  his  still  superior  but  disheart- 
ened armies.     From  the  numbers  of  this  call  may   be  inferred, 
the  extent  of  the  panic  and  the  losses  of  the  enemy,  from  our  succes- 
sive victories.     At" the  commencement  of  the  campaign  they  had 
their  boasts  and  their  hopes  on  having  seven  hundred  thousand  men 
in  arms  for  our  overtl  e  that  campaign  was  half 

pleted,   their   fears  called  for    nearly  a   duplication  of   their  ori 
numbers.     While  the  ribed  were  occurring,  rapid  and 

great  additions  under  this  call  had  been  made  to  the  Federal  ai 
and  not  morcly  of  untrained  levies,  since  the  j  -position  of 

them  in  garrison?  and  the  r  -  of  action, 

had  placed  art  disposition  large     numbers  of  their  best  troops, 
spirits    had  \    broken    by    defeats.      By    these    means   GetL 

McGiellan,  wh#  had  been  summoned  with  his  shattered  remnant  of  the 
grand  army  to  the  defence  of  the  capital,  was  enabled  at  the  head  of 
an  immense  army,  to  issue  forth  to  attack  Gen.,  Lee  and  relieve  Har- 
per's Ferry.     rlhe   movem 

pated,  was  too  late  for  the  latter  purpose,  as  Harper's  Ferry  had  already 
yielded,  yet  it  brought  him   in  the  face  of  our   forces  before    th 
been  concentrated  from  that  and  their  other  n    in    Maryland. 

The  first  shock  of  his  whole  force  was  thus  cast  on  on  dumns 

of  Gen.  Lee's  army,  guarding  his  rear 

bravely  sustained  and  even  repelled  by  the  gallant  Gen.   1).   H.  Hill, 
yet  his  necesary  retirement  to  the  point  of  combination  selected  by 
Gen,  Lee,  gave  to  the  enemy  the  appearance  of  a  first  sue. -ess,  and  was 
unscrupulously  trumpeted  as  a  great  victory,  to  animate  the  ho] 
:e  of  the  Federal  army.     Thus  r<  inspirited,  with  treble  i 
numbers  and  artillery,  they  ventured  an    attack  on  Gen.    Lee  in   the 
position  near  Sharpsburg,  where  he  had   collected  the  larger  portion 
of  the  forces  remaining  to   him  after   so  man}'   arduous  marches   and 
glorious   victories.     The   battle,  protracted  from  morn   to  night,  was 
stubborn   and  bloody,  bu"  resulted  in   the  final  repulse  of  the  i 
from  all  our  positions.     The  field  remained  in  our  occupancy,  and  the 
next  morning,  te  the  challenging  Bre  of  our  guns,  no  response  was  made, 
and   no  enemy   appeared.     McClellan  had   withdrawn,  as   afterwards 
appeared,  some  five  miles  in  retreat.      The  victory  was  ours,  but  gained 
over   numbers    already    overwhelming   and  certain   to  be   immediately 
reinforced,  it  could  not  be  followed  up  and  improved.     Exhausted  by 
the  unwonted  celerity  of  past  movements,  and  by  the  inevitable 
of  his  many  victories,    and  exposed   to  have  his  communications  and 
supplies  intercepted  by  his  host  of  foes,   Gen.  Lee  judiciously  with- 


6 

drew  "his  army  with  all  its  numbers  and  stores  in  safety  across  the- 
Potomac.  The  enemy  finding  in  this  movement  of  wise  precaution  a 
pretext  for  the  arrogant  claim  of  victor)*,  followed  to  th.e  river  bank, 
but  ventured  not  to  assail  their  retiring  conquerors,  much  less  to  cross 
the  river  in  pursuit.  Our  gallant  army,  in  proud  defiance  of  the  hosts 
red  on  the  opposite  shore,  rested  rind  recruited  on  the  Virginia 
side,  with  the  satisfaction  of  having  well  nigh  destroyed  two  grand 
armies  of  invader?,  and  severely  staggered  a  third,  more  numerou 
cither.  A  pause  of  martial  inaction  followed  for  some  weeks,  and  may- 
be considered  as  i  termination  in  the  east  to  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  campaigns  of  history. 

In  the  west,  less  brilliant,  but  still  very  decisive,  successes  attended' 
cur  arms.  From  the  effects  of  the  victory  of  Shiloh,  and  of  the  re-in- 
vigorated ranks  and  spirits  of  our  forces  under  the* action  of  the  con- 
script law,  our  armies  in  each  department  prepared  to  make  active 
advances,  and  by  combined  movements  pressing  forward  their  dis- 
couraged and  retreating  fb.es,  to  repossess  the  country  previously 
occupied  by  them,  and  to  go  forward  to  the  redemption  of  the  State  of" 
Kentucky,  and  the  attack  of  one  or  more  of  the  leading  cities  of  .the 
west.  In  the  prosecution  of  this  plan.  North  Alabama  and  Mississippi 
were  speedily  cleared  of  the  footsteps  of  the  foe.  All  of  Tennessee, 
save  the  strongholds  of  Memphis  and  Nashville,  and  the  narrow  districts 
commanded  by  them,  were  retrieved,  and  by  converging  armies,  nearly 
the  whole  of  Kentucky  was  occupied  and  held.  The  signal  victory  of 
Richmond  was  won,  with  the  capture  and  dispersion  of  nearly  the 
whole  much  superior  forces  of  the  enemy,  by  the  skill  and  valor  of  Gen. 
E.  Kirby  Smith  and  his  brave  command.  While  a  series  of  brilliant 
cavalry  movements  and  successes,  won  by  the  gallant  Col.  Morgan, 
broke  up  all  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  disaffected  unionists  or  scattered' 
Federal  forces  to  raTry  and  combine,  and  afforded  at  once,  protection 
and  encouragement  to  rise,  to  the  loyal  citizens  of  the  State.  These 
movements  threatened  the  safety,  and  excited*  the  greatest  consternation). 
•  cities  of  Cincinnati  and  Louisville. 

Meanwhile,  Gen.  Braxton  Bragg,  with  a  well  appointed  army, 
trained  and  disciplined  under  his  efficient  organization,  moved  boldly 
forward  through  Tennessee  and  Kentucky.  By  doing  this  he. so 
flanked  and  endangered  the  rear  of  Gen.  Buell,  in  command  of 
the  leading  army  of  the  enemy  in  the  west,  as  to  compel  him  to  rapid 
retreat,  for  refuge  and  reinforcements,  on  the  Ohio  at  Louisville,  or 
elsewhere.  Had  Gen.  Buell,  as  might  naturally  have  been  expected 
from  his  numbers,  been  more  bold  to  encounter  his  tnemy,  or  less 
rapid  in  his  flight,  Gen.  Bragg  would  probably  have  accomplished, 
after  sweeping  all  foes  from  before  him  in  Middle  Kentucky,  the  great 
object  of  overthrowing  Bueli's  army  and  capturing  Louisville  Unfor- 
tunately, Buell  effected  evasion  of  battle,  and  escaped  safely  to  that 
city,  which,  under  the  occupancy  of  his  army,  became  too  strong  for 
assault.  Sheltered  in  Louisville,  Buell  was  enabled  to  receive  and  or- 
ganize the  very  large  reinforcements  which  the  draft  of  the  Federal" 
Government,  and  the  dread  of  invasion  in  the  populous  States  of  the 
Northwest,  caused  to  be  forwarded  with  extraordinary  dispatch.     His. 


force3,  before  superior,  became  vastly  larger  than  all  our  commands  in 
Kentucky,  and  he  began  by  various  movements  to  threaten  our  con- 
nections  and    communications    with    the    more    Southern 
About  the  same  time,  the  diversions  which  were 'expected  to  be 
by  our  forces  still  remaining  on  the   southern   borders  of  West  Ten- 

■.  towards  Memphis  and  Nashville,  failed  of  anticipated  s; 
Ono  division  sustained  a  check  at  Iuka  and  was  obliged  to  fall  back, 
and  some  time  later  the  whole  command,  in  a  most  daring  and  deter- 
mined attack  on  the   entrenched  positions   of  the   enemy  at    Corinth, 
were  defeated  with  serious  loss  and  driven  to  a  rapid,  retreat. 

re  these  events  had  fully  occurred.   General   Bragg  had   con- 
cluded that  prudence  required  the  present  withdrawal   of  our   armies 
from  Kentucky,  and  the  removal  into  security  of  the  large,  and  under 
our  circumstances,  most  valuable   supplies   of  every  kind   which   had 
been  collected  during  the  occupancy  of  that  abundant  and  unexlia 
country.     His  arrangements  were  being  made  with  due  care  and  de- 
liberation for  these  »n«ls.  and  portions  of  his  forces,  preceded  by  im- 
mense trains,  were  already  moving  Southward,  when   General  Buell, 
under  the  encouragement  of  his  great  numbers,  at  last  ventured  attack 
on    one   of  his    divisions.     The    result  was.  when  comparative  . 
arc  consid  'red.  the  brilliant  victory  to  us  of  Pcrryville.     Its  results 
•en  in  the  subsequent  prudent  avoidance  of  all   interruption  or 
•  bv  the  enemy  to   the  quietly   retreating  columns   of  our 
armies  with  their  gathered  stores,  who  resumed  commanding  positions 
of  their  selection  in  the  State  of  Tennessee.     Thus,  in  Kentucky,  as 
in  Virginia,  our  armies,  not  conquered  or  repelled,  but  diminished  by 
their  own  successes,  were,  from  mere  paucity  of  numbers,  constrained 
to  retire  to  avoid  environment  by  overwhelming  forces,  but  under  the 
ting  prestige  of  victory,  were  prudently  respected  and   una3- 
l  by  their  enemies. 

Of  the  various  operations  of  our  forces  on  more  limited  then: 
is  impracticable,  within  reasonable  limits,  to  give  a  succinct  account. 
sufficient  to  say,  generally,  that  from  the  reorganization  of  our 
army,  and  the  turn  in  the  tide  of  fortune,  that  successes  hav. 
numerous  and  reverses  very  few,  and  that,  with  scarce  an  exception, 
in  small  actions  as  in  great  engagement  ?,  the  superior  skill  of  our 
officers  and  valor  of  our  soldiers  have  been  signally  vindicated. 

More  special  allusion,  however,  is  due  to  the  memorable  repulses  of 
the  enemy  with  their  formidable  gunboats  at  Drewry's  Bluff,  near 
Richmond,  and  at  Yicksburg.  At  each  were  illustrated  not  m<>! 
nally  the  fortitude  and  valor  of  the  armed  defenders,  than  the  heroic 
resolve  and  self-devotion  of  the  citizens,  who  preferred  for  their  fair 
cities'  destruction  to  subjugation.  The  examples  were  pregnant  with 
monition  and  encouragement.  The  gunboats  lost  their  prestige  of 
terror.  Cities  ceased  to  be  abandoned  or  surrendered  on  the  approach 
of  a  foe,  and  all  were  taught  how  freemen,  above  fear  and  ready  for 
all  sacrifice,  may  proudly  defy  the  most  potent  agencies  of  modern 
warfare. 

The  foregoing   detail  has  been  indulged  in  from  a  double  purpose. 
First,    to    render    a  tribute   of  justice  to  our  armies,  whose   grand* 


8 

achievements,  being  then  in  process  of  accomplishment,  my  predeces- 
sor, from  considerations  of  prudence,  abstained  in  his  last  report  from 
commemorating  ;  and  secondly,  and  more  especially,  to  demonstrate 
the  imperious  necessity  that  demanded  the  first  enactment  of  con- 
scription, and  the  glorious  effects  that  at  once  vindicated  the  wisdom 
of  its  adoption,  and  repaid  the  sacrifices  of  our  soldiers  and  people  in 
accepting  it.  It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say,  that  it  wrought  our  salva- 
tion from  destruction  or  infamous  thraldom.  Could  it  indeed  have 
been  somewhat  sooner  adopted,  or  more  speedily  and  thoroughly  exe- 
cuted, it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  the  first  act  alone  might  not 
have  sufficed  to  have  extorted  from  our  obdurate  foes,  in  their  own  cap- 
ital, or  on  their  own  conquered  soil,  permanent  peace  and  indepen- 
dence. At  the  culminating  point  of  our  late  successful  advances, 
could  fifty  thousand  more  troops  of  the  Confederacy  have  been  added 
to  ttie  victorious  armies  of  Generals  Lee  and  Bragg,  the  full  fruition 
of  our  highest  hopes  would  almost  have  been  assured.  In  no  spirit 
of  vain  regret  is  the  reflection  indulged,  but  because  of  its  deep  prac- 
tical monition  for  the  future.  In  lieu  of  such  happy  consummation, 
our  triumphal  progress  was  arrested  and  our  victorious  armies 
compelled  to  retire  before  the  hosts  summoned  to  the  field  by  the 
large  draft  of  the  Federal  Government.  The  same  necessity  is  there- 
fore again  pressing  on  our  people  with  scarce  less  stringent  urgency. 
In  wise  prevision  of  it,  the  second  act  of  conscription,  heretofore  re- 
ferred to,  was  judiciously  provided  by  Congress  at  its  last  session, 
giving  to  your  Excellency  the  power  to  call  into  the  Provisional  Army 
all  subject  to  military  duty  between  the  ages  of  thirty-five  and  forty- 
five,  or  such  part  thereof  as  in  your  judgment  was  necessary  to  the 
public  defence.  Under  this  act,  you  have  called  into  service,  for  the 
present,  only  those  between  the  ages  of  thirty-five  and  forty,  who  are 
slibject  to  military  service,  and  not  exempted  by  an  act  passed  soon 
after,  known  as  the  Exemption  Act,  exempting  certain  classes,  of  per- 
sons, and  such  others  as  the  President  shall  be  satisfied  on  account  of 
justice,  equity  or  necessity  ought  to  be  exempted.  The  call,  as  well 
as  the  first  Act  of  Conscription,  are  now  being  actively  executed  by 
the  department.  A  sub-bureau,  attached  to  the  Adjutant  General's 
Department,  has  been  organized,  charged  with  this  subject  exclusively. 
In  every  State  one  or  more  Camps  of  Instruction  for  the  reception 
and  training  of  conscripts,  has  been  or  is  being  established  in  judici- 
ously selected  locations.  To  each  State  an  officer,  styled  a  Com- 
mandant of  Conscripts,  is  appointed,  charged  with  the  supervision  of 
the  enrolment  and  instruction  of  conscripts,  and  he  recommends  a 
surgeon,  a  quartermaster,  a  commiss  iry  and  the  drillmasters  requisite. 
Pursuant  to  another  Act  of  Congress,  approved  October  1  I,  1862, 
in  each  city,  county,  parish,  or  district  in  the  several  States,  a  place 
of  rendezvous  for  persons  enrolled  is  established,  where  they  are  ex- 
amined by  surgeons,  and  in  each  Congressional  District  a  board  of 
three  surgeons  is  appointed  to  make  the  examinations  aforesaid.  It 
has  not  been  found  practicable  to  spare  from  the  service  of  the  armies 
and  hospitals  a  sufficient  number  of  Confederate  Surgeons  to  consti- 
tute these,  but  at  least  one  in  each  district  will  be  associated  with  local 


surgeons  of  repute  for  the  duty,  and  the  effort  will  be  made  to  prevent, 
by  exchanges  with  other  districts,  surgeon?  of  any  particular  county 
from  officiating  on  the  conscripts  therefrom.  In  at  least  each  county 
or  city  an  enrolling  officer  is  expected  to  act.  and  he  is  instructed  to 
enrol  all  not  of  the  exempted  classes,  between  the  specified  ages  of 
en  and  forty,  so  that  those  who  have  evaded  or  been  neglected 
in  former  enrolments,  and  the  number  startling]?  large  of  soldiers 
who,  on  one  pretence  or  another,  are  avoiding  Berviee,  as  Well  as 
those  embraced  by  your  late  call,  may  be  subjected  to  duty. 

In  the  enforcement  of  these  laws  of  conscription,  the  Department 
is  constrained  to  be  inflexible,  and  even  appear  harsh.  The  sacrifices 
1  for  service  are  painfully  realized,  but  they  are  felt  to  be  im- 
peratively demanded  for  the  public  safety.  The  exemptions.  ; 
far  more  liberal  in  the  last  than  the  former  act.  still  affect  compara- 
tively few.  and  those  of  certain  limited  classes,  while  the  exempnng 
power  vested  in  yonr  discretion  seems  to  contemplate  only  individual 
of  persons  who  ought  to  be  exonerated  "  on  account  of  justice, 
equity  or  necessity  ."  In  considering  the  character  of  the  clag 
empted,  it  is  evident  that  Congress  contemplated  the  enumeration  of 
all  of  the  prescribed  ages,  whose  offices  or  function  !  more 

essential  to  the  public  weal  at  home  than  in  the  service.  The  prin- 
ciple of  the  bill  is,  therefore,  that  the  whole  necessary  operations  of 
society  and  business  can  and  must  be  done  bj  the  exempts,  and  those 
above  and  below  the  prescribed  ages,  while  all  other  white  males, 
capable  of  bearing  arms,  shall  be  in  the  armies  of  the  Confed 
for  the  sacred  duty  of  public  defence. 

This  principle  the  Department  rigidly  applies,  with  but  few  in- 
considerable exceptions  of  the  clearest  equity  or  necessity.  An  im- 
pression has  strangely  prevailed,  that  the  exemptions  prescribed 
by  the   act  availed,  as  well  to  di  From  the  army,  as  to  exon- 

erate from  the  call  of  conscription.  For  this  no  foundation  can  be 
found  in  the  law,  while  the  earnest  aim  clearly  expressed  in  the  first 
act  to  retain  the  army  as  absolutely  essential,  as  well  as  the  general 
phraseology  of  the  law,  excludes  such  construction.  The  whole 
and  operation  of  the  second  act  apply  exclusively  to  those  to  be  sub- 
jected to  the  expected  call  of  the  President,  and  the  act  of  exemption, 
passed  to  limit  ami  define  it.  can.  of  course,  have  no  wider  stretch. 
The  very  term  exemption  implies  freedom  from  a  call  to  be  made,  not 
discharge  from  existing  service.  It  is  well,  too,  in  every  view,  that 
such  is  the  only  reasonable  construction  of  the  act.  for  a  more  mis- 
chievous mode  could  hardly  have  been  devised  to  weaken  and  dissatisfy 
the  army,  than  to  hare  made  the  grounds  of  exemption  causes  of  dis- 
charge. Apart  from  the  inevitable  loss  in  numbers  to  the  army,  it 
could  not  be  expected  that  the  soldiers  not  embraced  seeing  comrades 
equally  capable  of  service  discharged  -on  such  grounds,  as,  for  in- 
stance, that  they  had  plantations  with  twenty  slaves  without  other 
male  adult  on  them,  or  because  of  their  addiction  to  special  mechanical, 
mining  or  manufacturing  pursuits,  would  not  feel  the  gravest  discon- 
tent and  indignation.  Demoralization,  if  not  more  disastrous  effects, 
must  inevitably  have  ensued. 


10 

There  are  certain  classes  of  officers  and  employees,  not  exactly 
engaged  in  State  or  Confederate  service,  yet  so  important  in  their 
public  ministry,  such  as  the  officers  and  police  of  cities,  firemen, 
superintendents  of  water  or  gas  works,  and  the  like,  and  others  again 
essential  to  corporations  private  in  interest,  but  highly  important  to 
the  transaction  of  general  business,  or  to  works  of  public  benevolence, 
such  as  the  officers  and  clerks  of  express  companies,  of  leading  banks, 
evangelical  societies  and  similar  institutions,  to  whom  it  might  be 
advisable  to  extend  the  privilege  of  exemption.  The  classes  of  trades- 
men or  mechanics  exonerated  in  deference  to  the  peculiar  needs  of 
society,  might  also  be  enlarged. 

There  are,  too,  in  the  Confederacy  districts  of  not.  very  fertile 
country,  where  the  citizens  are  generally  in  moderate  circumstances, 
and  have  few  or  no  slaves.  The  draft  on  them  of  all  the  males  be- 
tw<5bn  eighteen  and  forty  will  probably  remove  their  laboring  classes 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  endanger  scarcity  and  even  destitution  among 
the  remainder.  Some  relaxation  of  the  law,  graduating  the  number 
to  he  conscribed  in  proportion  to  the  deficiency  of  slave  labor  in  any 
county  or  district,  would  be  both  equitable  and  judicious. 

One  of  the  exemptions  of  the  act,  that  which  "  to  secure  the  proper 
police  of  the  country  "  exempts  "  one.  person  on  each  plantation  of 
twenty  iTegroes,  on  which  there  is  no  white  male  adult  not  liable  to 
military  duty,"  has  caused,  in  many  portions  of  the  Confederacy,  dis- 
satisfaction and  complaint.  This  has  been,  in  many  instances,  from 
mere  invidiousness  in  regarding  the  slaves  merely  as  property,  and 
not  as  a  servile  class  to  be  controlled  from  considerations  of  general 
safety.  In  others  where'  the  slaves  arc  regarded  only  as  helpless 
dependents  to  be  cared  for  and  directed.  The  claim  has  been  asserted 
that  similar  privilege  of  exemption  should  at  least  be  accorded  to 
those  who  had  many  helpless  children  or  females  dependent  solely  on 
their  care  or  labor.  The  latter  view  would  alone  seem  entitled  to 
consideration. 

It  would  probably  relieve  the  law  from  much  odium,  and  yet  pro- 
mote only  equity  and  the  public  good,  if  where,  as  in  cases  not  unfre- 
quently  presented,  eight  or  ten  helpless  whites  are  dependent  on  one 
male  friend  within  the  prescribed  ages,  exemption  should  be  accorded 
by  law. 

It  will  be  observed,  you  have  not  yet  exhausted  your  power  of  call. 
The  faithful  execution,  of  tjiat  mode  it  is  confidently  hoped  will  dispense 
with  the  need  of  farther  draft  on  those,  who  from  their  age  are  apt  to 
be,  by  their  larger  ties  and  interests,  most  essential  to  society.  Our 
armies  may  thus  be  adequately  recruited  and  maintained  at  the  max- 
imum required  by  their  organizations.     More  need  scarce  be  desired. 

The  organization  of  the  army  has  been  advanced  by  the  appoint- 
ment, under  the  act  of  Congress,  of  seven  Lieutenant  Generals.  They 
were  all  Major  Generals,  and  selected  for  approved  skill,  conduce  and 
experience.  They  are  all  now  in  active  service,  some  commanding 
seperate  departments,  and  others  heading  army  corps  under  a  General 
in  the  field.  Major  and  Brigadier  Generals  in  requisite  numbers  to 
meet?  the  exigencies  of  the  service,  have  been  appointed  and  assigned. 


11 

The  policy  of  organising  the  brigades  with  troops  and  Generals  from 
the  several  States,  has  been  pursued,  and  as.  opportunities  offer,  with- 
out detriment  to  the  service,  -will  be  carried  out.  The  greater  satisfac- 
tion^ the  men  from  each  State,  when  eolle  aero  us 
emulation  for  glory  to  their  State,  and  the  fair  apportionment  of  offi- 
cers assured  to  each  State  according  to  its  contribution  of  defenders  to 
the  country,  will,  it  is  hoped,  overbalance  the  inconvenience  of  s; 
ing  regiments  or  companies  previously  1  the  liability  to 
State  jealousies.  The  policy  will  be  in  to  a  full  trial  of  its 
merits. 

The  military  courts  authorize  1  at  t:  if  Congress  have 

been  constituted.  In  making  the  appointments,  white  qualifications 
were  first  considered,  preference  among  the  applicai  far  as 

the  range  of  choice  allowed,  given  to  those  who  had  been  wounded  or 
disabled  in  service.  These  tribunals  Bupply  a  need  much  felt  by  #ur 
commanders  in  the  field.     The  of  frequent  con 

•  much  embarrassment  and  many  delays.  Without  them  now  the 
prompt  administration  of  the  military  law  may  be  secured,  desertion 
and  straggling  checked,  license  of  all  k  ".  and  temperance, 

[pline  and   subordination  advanced. 

The  various  branches  of  spec):  heretofore  established  have 

proven  judicious  and  worked  generally  well. 

The  battalion  of  sharpshooters    at;  le  has  done 

much  to  restore  our  superiority  as  marksmi  bad  begun  to  be 

endangered  by  th  nt  practice  therewith, 

of  our  less  skilful  ad.  On  many  occasions,  their 

1  as  the  valor  of  these  battalions,  has  been  Btrikingly  exbi 
and  they  are  now   regarded  as  almost  a  necessity  to  a  proper  organi- 
zation. 

The  appointments  of  artillery  officers  for  ordnance  service,  and  of 
engineers,  have  as  yet  been  made  only  in  part.  '  Boards,  however, 
have  been  constiti  amination  of  candidates,  and  arc  re- 

quired to  hold  tli'  different  parts  of  the  Confederacy,  so 

as  to  afford  ilities  of  access  to  those  at  a  distance  from  the 

capital.      Soi  ive    been  held  and  v. 'ports  have  been   made 

Ling  the  order  of  merit  in  which  the  successful   candidates  have 
:.     It  is  the  purpose   of  the  department,  when   these  lists   have 
been  completed,  to  make  the  appointments   from  them,  and  as  justice 
and  implied  faith  seem  to  demand,  to  give  priority  in  commission  accord- 
the  reported  grades  of  qualification. 

The  engineer  officers  already  appointed  and  acting,  have  proved 
most  efficient  aids,  as  well  in  field  operations  as  in  local  works  and 
defences.  They  have  had.  however,  no  special  corps  of  men.  but  only 
such  as  when  occasion  required,  were  detailed  for  the  special  service. 
It  may  be  well  doubted  whether  a  company  or  two  in  each  brigade 
should  not  be    special;  I  to   engineering  work,   and  be   exclu- 

sively commanded  by  engineer  officers.  Greater  skill  and  efficiency 
could  not  fail  to  be  attained  by  the  men  so  employed,  while  the 
inconveniences  which  often  arise  from  the  delay  in  special  details,  and 
the  occasional  controversies  arising  between  the  officers  in  command 


of  tlie  detailed  men  and  the  engineer  officers  guiding  their  operations* 
would  be  avoided.  In  connection  with  such  a  corps,  a  company  of 
pioneers  and  pontoniers  armed  only  with  revolvers  and  sabres^  but 
carrying  some  effective  tool,  as  an  axe,  a  pick  or  a  spade,  might  be 
advantageously  constituted,  under  the  command  of  an  engineer  officer. 
One  detachment  of  them  might  precede  each  brigade  in  its  march, 
smoothing  the  roads  and  bridging  the  small  streams,  while  another 
should  accompany  the  trains,  prepared  to  remove  impediments,  or 
give  prompt  assistance  in  case  of  accidents.  The  celerity  of  army 
movements,  on  which  often  great  results  depend,  would  be  sensibly 
increased  by  such  an  arrangement. 

The  officers  for  ordnance  serm:e,  as  far  as  appointments  have  been 
made,  have  rendered  the  distribution  of  munitions  and  the  supply  of 
arms  and  artillery  more  regular  and  complete,  and  have,  at  the  same 
time,  promoted  economy  in  consumption,  care  in  preservation,  and 
greater  efficiency  in  their  use. 

The  signal  corps  has  been  filled  and  organized,  and  is  now  in  effec- 
tive operation.  It  justifies  the  expectations  entertained  of  its  utility, 
and  contributes  materially  to  the  dispatch  of  orders,  the  transmission 
of  intelligence,  and  the  general  safety  of  the  army. 

The  policy  of  organizing  corps  of  Partizan  Rangers  has  not  been 
approved  by  experience.  The  permanency  of  their  engagements  and 
their  consequent  inability  to  disband  and  reassemble  at  call,  precludes 
their  usefulness  as  mere  guerillas,  while  the  comparative  independence 
of  their  military  relations,  and  the  peculiar  rewards  allowed  them  for 
captures,  induce  much  license  and  many  irregularities.  They  have  not 
unfrequently  excited  more  odium  and  done  more  damage  with  friends 
than  enemies.  The  men  composing  them  would  be  more  useful  in  the 
regular  organizations,  and  while  the  department  has  been  reluctant  to 
disband  them,  it  avoids  raising  more,  and  endeavors  to  persuade  and 
promote  the  conversion  of  existing  corps  into  similar  bodies  in  the  line 
of  the  Provisional  Army. 

The  principle  now  applicable  to  nearly  all  the  regimental  and  com- 
pany organizations,  of  promotion  by  seniority,  and  of  election  in  the 
lowest  grade  only,  is  believed  to  have  given  more  satisfaction  than  did 
that  of  general  election.  A  feeling  of  greater  security  and  more  pro- 
fessional pride  is  engendered,  and  stronger  inducements  are  presented 
to  all  subordinate  officers  to  improve  and  prepare  themselves  for 
higher  positions.  Still,  in  an  army  where  a  large  proportion  of  the 
officers  have  had  no  previous  military  training  or  experience,  due  as- 
surance cannot  be  felt  of  the  competency  of  those  on  whom  promotion 
may,  by  this  rule,  be  cast.  A  provision  against  gross  incompetency 
is,  'indeed,  made  by  the  authority  conferred  by  act  of  Congress  for 
the  convening  of  a  board  to  determine  qualifications,  but  resort  to 
this  remedy  is  naturally  odious,  and  in  practice  it  proves  but  little 
efficacious.  It  is  not  to  be  denied,  too,  that  promotion  Jby  seniority 
alone  represses  ambitious  aspirations,  and  the  spirit  of  enterprise  and 
daring  which  promotion  by  merit  inspires.  Some  recognition  of  this, 
and  desire  to  avoid  its  effects,  have  been  manifested  by  the  enactments 
of  Congress  allowing  promotions  to  be  made  by  the  President  in  cases 


13 

of  distinguished  skill  and  valor,  but  save  in  the  rare  case  where  re- 
commendation of  extraordinary  merit  is  given  by  the  commanding 
general,  such  appointments  can  only  be  made  to  a  vacancy  in  the  com- 
pany, battalion  or  regiment  to  which  the  party  is  attached. 
where  promotion  by  seniority  is  the  almost  invariable  rule,  the  exercise 
of  this  appointing  power  becomes  odious,  is  construed  into  iujusti 
all  the  inferior  officers  of  the  special  organization,  and  I  atent 

and  dissension.  In  consequence,  it  is  very  rarely  exercised,  and  the 
injurious  effects  of  promotion  by  seniority  alone  are  not  by  this  j 
sion  effectively  counteracted.  It  is  suggested  that  some  beneficial 
effect  in  inspiriting  to  deed-  of  valor  and  the  display  of  extraordinary 
merit,  would  result  from  confining  Action  to  the  lowest  grade,  (the 
starting  point  on  the  road,  to  honors) To  those,  if  any  were  in  the  com- 
pany, who  had  been  recommended  by  their  commanders  for  distin- 
guished skill  and  valor.  This  would  not  deprive  the  company  of  the 
privilege  of  election,  but  would  confine  the  choice  among  the  most 
worthy.  Still  the  higher  and  more  important  grades  would  lie  sup- 
plied only  by  seniority,  and.  with  deference,  it  is  recommended,  that 
some  mode  be  devised  by  the  wisdom  of  Congress  to  Lave  vacanci 
that  class  more  frequently  the  rewards  of  high  deeds  and  superior 
qualifications.     This  is  the  mor<  e  the  cominis-i 

officers  in  the  provisional  army  being  dependent  on  the  continuance  of 
their  organizations,  some  of  the  most  valuable  in  the  service  have  been 
thrown  out  by  the  dissolution  or  disbanding  of  their  companies  or 
regiments,  when,  often  through  their  own  gallantry,  too  much  reduced 
for  service.  Under  the  present  system,  however  meritorio 
efficient,  there  is  no  place  for  them  in  the  line,  and  they  can  only  be 
replaced  in  the  army  by  conscription  as  private.-.  This  is  scar- 
unjust  than  impolitic.  Some  provision-  should  be  adopted  by  which 
such  officers  should  retain  their  coin-  or  the  privilege  of  ap- 

pointment to  vacancies  which  they  are  eminently  fitted  to  fill  should 
be  accorded  to   them.     The   hardships  to  the  officers   in  such    i 
together  with  reluctance  to  lose  their  i-ervices,  has  sometimes  induced 
generals  in  command,  particularly  in  the  more  distant  departments,  to 
assign  such  officers  temporarily  to   vacancies,  for  which   the  officers 
entitled  by  seniority  were  known  to  be  less  competent,  or  to  .-; 
duties.     An  embarrassment  results.     The  officers,  in  some  ca-es,  after 
long  service,  find  that   they  have   lost  their  commissions   by  the  pre- 
vious disbanding  of  their  commands,  and  can  neither  be  recog 
nor  receive  their  pay  as  officers.      Some    appropriation   to  mee 
cases,  and  provide  compensation  at  least  for  the  period  of  their  actual 
service,  should  be  provided. 

In  this  connection  another  interesting  class  of  cases  deserve- 
ing  notice.  It  has  repeatedly  happened  that  officers  who  have  raised 
companies  or  regiments,  or  who  have  been  passed  over 
with  their  commands  to  the  Confederate  service,  after  joining  some  of 
our  armies,  but  before  their  muster  rolls  have  been  duly  returned,  or 
notice  properly  given  to  the  Adjutant  General,  have  been  captured, 
or  tad  their  commands  broken  up  and  dispersed  by  the  enemy.  Some, 
in  such  cases,  have  pined  long  in  prison,  others  have  served  in  asr-igued 


14 

commands  for  months,  and  when  cither  exchanged,  or  led  to  apply  for 
recognition  and  pay  as  officers,  have  found  no  authority  in  the  depart- 
ment to  allow  either.  Several  cases  like  these  of  peculiar  hardship 
occurred  among  the  officers  of  the  Louisiana  State  troops  transferred 
to  the  Confederate  service,  who  were  cither  captured  or  dispersed  after 
the  fall  of  New  Orleans.  .  It  is  recommended  that  whenever  their  im- 
prisonment or  service  as  officers  can  be  .satisfactorily  established, 
payment  to  them  be  authorised  by  law. 

Measures  to  afford  adequate  supplies  of  ordnance,  arms  and  muni- 
tion s  for  the  army  have  claimed-  the  earnest  attention  of  the  depart- 
ment. The  increased  stringency  of  the  blockade  by  the  enemy,  while 
it  has  made  the  importation  of  sufficient  supplies  more  difficult  and 
-.  has  at  the  same  time  induced  more  energetic  efforts  to  find  and 
develope  all  internal  resources.  The  results  co  far  are  very  encour- 
Our  present  supplies  are  at  least  as  abundant  as  they  have 
t  any  time  past,  and  our  prospects  for  the  future  more  promising. 
Two  establishments,  in  addition  to  the  leading  one  heretofore  existing 
at  this  city,  for  making  ordnance  have  been  founded  in  interior  towns 
under  the  auspices  of  the  department,  one  of  which  is  already  in  suc- 
cessful operation,  and  the  other  will  be  in  a  very  short  time.  Besides 
these,  some  smaller  establishments  have  been  fostered  and  engaged  in 
similar  work.  Thus  the  serious  anxiety  which  resulted  *om  depen- 
dence on  a  single  establishment,  liable  to  be  interrupted  by  casualties 
or  the  chances  of  war,  has  been  removed,  and  a  larger  provision  se- 
cured for  future  supplies.  Of  small  arms,  the  department  can  now 
furnish  stores  more  adequate  to  the  requirements  of  the  army  than  at 
any  preceding  date,  while  of  munitions  it  entertains  now  no  dread  of 
deficiency.  In  these  particulars  also,  by  the  encouragement  and  es- 
tablishment of  manufactures  within  the  Confederacy,  the  department 
is  daily  becoming  less  dependent  on  foreign  supply,  and  it  indulges 
the  hope  that  it  will,  at  no  remote  period,  be  able  to  dispense  altogether 
with  that  reliance.  In  this  connection,  it  would  be  injustice  not  to  re- 
fer to  the  efficient  aid  which  has  been  rendered  by  the  Nitre  Bureau, 
which  is  charged  with  much  more  general  operations  than  its  name 
would  indicate.  The  most  serious  embarrassment  to  be  apprehended, 
in  reference  to  the  ordnance  supplies,  is  in  the  deficiency  of  iron. 
■  the  war,  nearly  all  iron  works  within  the  S  ates  of  the 
Confederacy  had  languished  or  decayed,  and  from  the  sense  of  pre- 
cariousness  in  the  future  and  the  scarcity  of  suitable  labor,  it  has 
been  very  difficult  to  establish  them  in  sufficient  numbers  and  on  an 
adequate  scale  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  war.  It  has  been  ne- 
cessary that  the  department  should  stimulate  enterprise  by  large 
advances  and  liberal  contracts,  and  likewise  contribute  by  details 
to  the  supply  of  labor.  Many  new  furnaces  have  been  es-  • 
tablished,  and  those  in  operation  have  been  enlarged  and  tempted  to 
continue  more  uninterruptedly  in  blast.  If  the  contracts  made  with  the 
department  are  only  fully  carried  out,  it  is  believed  the  supply  will 
prove  adequate,  but  there  are  many  difficulties  in  the  prosecution  of 
the  work  from  the  enhancement  of  all  prices  and  from  the  temptations 
constantly  offered  to  contractors  to  prefer  the  superior  profits  which 


15 

they  can  command  by  supplying  the  general  market.  In  some  in- 
stances the  department  has  had  no  alternative  I  i  im- 
pi-essment  to  enforce  the  fulfilment  of  its  contracts  or  to  supply  its 
pressing  necessities. 

Embarrassments  of  the  like  nature  have  affected  the  operations  of 
the  Quartermaster  and  Subsistence  Departments.  For  some  of  the 
leading  articles  required  by  the  former,  reli 

placed  to  a  considerable  extent  on  foreign  Bnpplies,  since  they  are  not 
adequately  furnished  within  the  Confederal  This  has  been 

speciallv    the    case   with    v,  1    leather,  and  under 

and  interruption  there   have   been   at  times 

rather  Bcant  supplies  of  bla  les  of 

clothing.    Still,  by  using  to  the  utmost  internal  the  es- 

tahlishment  of  factories  and  tl'e    organisation  of  worl  nd   by 

in  use.  the  army  haa  neve 
suffer.     Of  late  greater  sue  attended  import  .1  be- 

ipplies  have  been  ma  ral  terms 

an  extent  that  security  is  now  felt  of  timely  and  abundant  pro- 
■  attain  a  result  -  fort  and  pi 

vtktion  of  our  gallant  armies,  the  department  will  spare  no  exertion  or 
sacrifice. 

For  due  Applies  of  forage  and  ven  placed 

ou  the  product]  >n  3  of  the  Coi 

they  have  proved  abundant,     They  are.  however,  mor  by  the 

peculiar  circumstances  of  the   country.      The   harvests    of    th  • 

d  have  not  generally  proved  propitiou  tanding  the 

much  larger' breadth  of  land  devoted  to  the  culture  of   c 
forage,  the  product  in  many  extensive  districts  Of  tie 
below  the  average  and  in  some  even  t1 

want  of  transportation  make  difficult  the  collection.  a  and 

equalization  of  such    products.      In    addition,    the    ra  war, 

prosecuted  by  our  malignant  enemies  in  shameful  violation  of  all  civ- 
ilized usage  for  the  ends  of  rapine  or  destruction,  ha.  1  con- 
do  districts  cf  fertile  country.  The  disti 
have'  ,  mainly  those  which  have  heretofore  affo  ;  irgest 
supplies  of  meat.  The  rearing  of  animals  for  food  !■  eethe 
war  very  generally  increased  throughout  the  Confederacy,  an  I 
other  districts  larger  supplies  than  heretofore  may  I  Still 
the  scarcity  of  grain  and  for  "heck  considerably  this  incr 
production,  and  render  adequate  supplies  for  the  future  more  doubtful. 
sr  cause  renders  the  procurement  of  the  supplies  that  ex- 
ist difficult.  The  redundant  issue  of  treasury  notes,  which  the  needs 
of  the  treasury  has  made  inevitable,  by  inflating  the  currency,  far  be-, 
yond  the  wants  of  the  country  for  a  circulating  medium,  has  caused  a 
great  enhancement  of  all  prices,  and  inspired  a  general  and  inordinate 
spirit  of  speculation.  As  the  cause  of  enhancement  ha-  ustbe 
continuous,  being  the  necessary  issue  of  treasury  notes,  so  the  increase 
in  prices  has  been,  an  i  without  check  from  lcgislati.ii  adily 
progressive.     This  is  so  understood  or  has  been  so  experienc 

.  that  there  is  the  strongest  repugnance  on  the  part  of  all 


having  necessary  supplies  to  sell,  to  part  with  them  even  at  the  exag- 
gerated current  rates,  from  the  conviction  that  a  longer  holding  will 
assure  still  higher  prices.  This  motive  is  so  influential  and  general, 
that  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  supply  the  necessities  of  the  govern- 
ment at  fair  prices,  or  by  voluntary  contracts.  . 

Resort  to  the  power  of  impressment  has  become  an  absolute  neces- 
sity for  the  support  of  our  armies.  It  is  a  power  of  great  delicacy, 
liable  to  perversion  and  abuse,  and  should  be  surrounded  by  every 
safeguard  of  equity  consistent  with  its  exercise.  The  sanction  and 
regulation  of  the  power,  by  law,  is  earnestly  commended  to  the  early 
consideration  of  Congress.  By  controlling  the  transportation  on  the 
railroads  on  some  judicious  general  system,  and  the  due  regulation 
and  exercise  of  the  power  of  impressment,  the  evils  referred  to  may, 
in  a  measure,  be  remedied,  and  the  supplies,  absolutely  essential  may 
be  commanded.  But  it  is  not  to  be  disguised  that  a  more  complete 
remedy  is  desirable,  and  that  it  can  only  be  found  in  the  regulation  of 
the  currency,  the  cessation  of  inflation,  and  the  consequent  reduc- 
tion of  prices  to  a  more  stable  standing-  This  more  appropriately 
pertains  to  the  province  of  the  Treasury  Department,  by  the  able 
head  of  which  it  will  doubtless  be  fully  presented.  As,  however,  the 
War  Department  is  the  great  consumer,  and  most  prejudiced  by  this 
evil,  it  may  be  pardonable  to  say,  that  there  is  but  one  radifel  remedy. 
That  is  easy  and  simple.  It  is  by  legislation  to  limit  the  negotiability 
of  the  treasury  notes,  so  that  there  shall  never  be  outstanding,  at  any 
one  time,  more  than  the  maximum  required  for  the  circulation  of  the 
Confederacy. 

The  estimates  of  the  several  bureaux  of  this  Department  for  the 
period  ending  June  30th,  1863,  are  herewith  submitted.  They  will 
be  found  to  be  large,  but  not  larger,  it  is  believed,  than  the  exigencies 
of  the  service  require. 

An  interesting  report,  from  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs, 
is  herewith  submitted.  (  During  the  past  summer,  there  were  among 
the  tribes  in  the  Indian  country  some  agitations  and  disturbances, 
which  threatened  internal  conflicts,  and  a  possible  outbreak  upon  the 
contiguous  States.  They  have,  however,  been  happily  appeased,  and 
there  is  every  reason  now  to  expect  tranquility  among  themselves^ 
and  their  amity  and  alliance  with  the  Confederate  States. 

From  the  preceding  imperfect  review  may  be  found  assurances  of 
the  increasing  power,  means  and  resources  of  the  Confederacy  for 
the  successful  prosecution  of  the  war.  We  have  room,  too,  for  gratu- 
lation  at  the  firmness,  unity  and  self-devotion  of  our  people,  and  the 
skill  and  valor  of  our  generals  and  soldiers,  and  much  cause  of  devout 
gratitude  to  the  God  of  battles,  for  the  signal  triumphs  vouchsafed  over 
the  hosts  of  our  malignant  foes. 

.  Nor  can  I  conclude. without  commemorating  another  glorious  victory 
that  has  just  given  added  cause  of  thankfulness  and  rejoicing.  Gen- 
eral Lee  and  his  noble  command  have,  at  Fredericksburg,  hurled  back 
in  dismay,  and  with  frightful  slaughter,  the  grand  arnrj  of  invasion, 
engaged  for  the  fourth  time  in  the  vain  task  of  conquering  our  capital. 
They  had  sacked  and  desolated  tlje  town,  one  of  the  most  respectable 


17 

of  the  State,  with  rapacity  and  brutality  that  would  have  disgraced 
savages,  and  it  was  made  the  appropriate  scene  of  their  retribution, 
for  its  streets  were  piled  with  their  dead  and  wounded.  From  the 
face  of  .the  avengers  they  Blank  away  amid  storm  and  darkness,  leav- 
ing to  our  gallant  army  the  assurance  of  acknowledged  superiority, 
and  affording  to  all  a  bright  augury  of  their  future  total  expulsion 
from  our  soil. 

Such  happy  result  will  likewise  he  advanced  by  the  renewed  gallant 
repulse  of  the  enemy's  combined  attack  by  land  and  water  on  Vicks- 
bnrg,  and  by  the  decided  victory  of  General  Bragg  and  his  brave  com- 
mand, which,  on  the  olst  ultimo,  crowned  the  triumphs  of  the  year. 
Scarcely  less  hopeful  assurance  is  afforded  by  the  indecisive  and 
bloody  struggle  of  the  second  instant,  which,  while  resulting  in  the 
temporary  retirement  of  General  Bragg's  forces  to  a  better  line  of  de- 
fence, inflicted  such  grievous  losses  on  the  enemy  as  to  leave  his  army 
too  shattered  and  dismayed  to  follow. 


Respectfully  submitted. 


JAMES  A.  SEDDON, 

Secretary  of  War. 


Hollinger  Corp. 
pH8.5 


